NAPLES – Italy and Argentina led the 5th race of the FINA Grand Prix, in Naples’ bay, 36km from Capri to Naples. Damian Blaum from Buenos Aires, won the male contest in 6h58:05, ahead of Australian Brendan Capell (7h02:02) and Italy’s Andrea Volpini (7h03:47).

It was the 1st gold for Argentina in open water marathon since Diego Degano in 1992.

Alessandra Romiti of Italy won her second Capri-Naples title after the gold in 2007, as she crossed the finish line in 7h26:58 yesterday.

Pilar Geijo of Argentina was just few seconds behind (7:27:06) with Esther Nunez of Spain only a second later for the third place.

The next race of the tournament will be the 56th Traversée Internationale Du Lac St-Jean (CAN) on July 31st.

SETUBAL – The 3rd race of the FINA 10km marathon swimming world cup has been won by Germany’s Thomas Lurz and Martina Grimaldi of Italy, in Setubal bay on Saturday.

Lurz won in 2h01:06, a second faster than Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria, while former Ukraine’s Sergiy Fesenko, took hird for Azerbaijan in 2h01:12.

Grimaldi won the women’s contest in 2h16.31.5 preceding Ana Marcela Cunha by just 3/100 of a second, while Angela Maurer of Germany closed 3rd in 2h16:34.7.

The 4th race of the World Cup will be held in Lac St-Jean on July 25.